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Spurs full Cup History v Burnley

FA CUP

SEASON  RD    H/A  RESULT

05-06   1      H    2-0
08-09   3      H    0-0
        3R     A    1-3
60-61   SF     VP   3-0
61-62   F      W    3-1
62-63   3      H    0-3
65-66   4      H    4-3

LEAGUE CUP
SEASON  RD    H/A  RESULT

1982-83 5      H    1-4
1993-94 2R/1L  A    0-0
        2R/2L  H    3-1
2002-03 3      A    1-2
2004-05 4      A    3-0
2008-09 SF(1)  H    4-1    
2008-09 SF(2)  A    2-3
Spurs won 6-4 on aggregate

It's time for Spurs to go for the FA Cup!

We all know the so-called magic for the Third Round of the FA Cup was devalued by a combination of TV interference with the fixtures, and this year's Christmas Fixture calendar. All Premier League teams, who had a full league programme on New Year's Day, were given dispensation to move their Cup fixtures.

For that reason, and not because of any TV coverage, we have to travel to Burnley on a bleak mid-winter's Monday night to try and negotiate our passage to the next round. Everton don't play West Ham until Tuesday night. That one is on the telly.

Already, we know that the team we beat the last time we managed to win the FA Cup (24 years ago in 1991) has gone out to lesser opposition. I speak of Stuart Pearce's Nottingham Forest, beaten 1-0 by League One team Rochdale.

Already, we know that the team we beat in the famous 1961 FA Cup Final (Leicester) has beaten Newcastle 1-0. So Newcastle became the first Premier League team to go out this year, whilst Swansea and West Brom have already joined Leicester with big wins over lesser opposition.

Our match against Burnley is one of four "repeat Cup Finals", with Sunderland playing Leeds today (Sunday), and Arsenal playing Hull in a repeat of last year's Final. Then tomorrow, FC Wimbledon host Liverpool

Former contributor Brian Judson wrote the following in November 2002 about some of our FA Cup History with Burnley:-

"In 1960-61, Spurs and Burnley were, respectively, impending and defending champions of the Football League. Purists had hoped the game would be reserved for the Cup Final but it was not to be. Meeting in the tunnel before the match, Jimmy McIlroy pointed to his claret and blue shirt and said, "We've never been beaten in these colours here!" "Don't worry," Danny said, "we've never been beaten here in our colours either!" (At the time, we were in the middle of a terrific unbeaten run at Villa Park!) And Spurs turned on the style and thrashed Burnley in a manner that deserved more than the three they scored. Bobby Smith scored twice and Cliff Jones once to send the Spurs through to the Final.

A year later, Spurs beat Burnley in the Cup Final. That man Greaves opened the scoring, accelerating past the Burnley defence, over-running the ball, and then cheekily popping the ball into the net. Jimmy Robson pulled one back for Burnley but Smith thumped one home within a minute and Blanchflower clinched the Cup with a penalty.

Tottenham were dumped out of the Cup the following January in the middle of the coldest winter since 1947. There was very little football played after Boxing Day until early March. The Cup tie with Burnley was postponed and re-arranged eight times before it finally went ahead two and a half-weeks after the original date. It was a thoroughly nasty affair. At least FOUR Spurs players should have been sent off. There was no more ugly sight than seeing Bobby Smith looming over the referee arguing with him. Nicholson did not mince his words after the game and apologised to the fans for a poor performance.

But the best match I have ever seen came when Tottenham were struggling to regain their place among the elite. We were drawn against Burnley who were chasing the Leaders whilst Spurs were mid-table. Burnley were 2-0 ahead after 5 minutes thanks to Andy Lochhead. But Gilzean and Saul took Spurs to 3-1 and 3-2 before Gilzean completed a stunning hat-trick with a goal near the end of the game. It was all end-to-end stuff and a thrilling cup-tie. (We meekly lost at Second Division Preston North End in the next round.)"

It is surprising to think that is almost a full 49 years since these two teams met in the FA Cup. There have been more recent encounters in the League Cup, of course. The most recent Cup meeting took place in January 6 years ago in the second leg of the semi-final. Spurs took a 4-1 lead into that second leg, and it looked as if it would be a doddle to carry on to the Wembley Final.

Burnley knew otherwise. They had already seen off Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal in previous rounds, and were en route to their one previous season in the Premier League (through the play-off final). Had there been an away goals rule in this competition, then Burnley would have gone through after 90 minutes, because they were 3-0 up. It took until the 118th minute for Roman Pavlyuchenko to lead us to Wembley, and then Jermain Defoe capped the game with an even later goal to give us a flattering 6-4 aggregate scoreline.

I recall that tragically, one of the Burnley fans died that night, perhaps through the excitement his team had caused. They certainly did him proud.

Sean Dyche's side have been doing themselves proud in recent weeks. They played very well at White Hart Lane, where we won 2-1. In their last two games, Burnley came back from 2-0 down to gain a massive point at The Etihad, where most teams (us included) perish, and on New Year's Day, they came back to get another draw, this time at St. James' Park, where the score was 3-3.

Sadly, Burnley had to make all three of their substitutions in the first half, due to injury, and their already weakish squad is likely to be missing key players tomorrow night.

Burnley's next four league games are against fellow relegation battlers, and that is surely where Dyche's focus will be.

Spurs now have to do without Nabil Bentaleb, who has already left for African Cup of Nations Duty with Algeria. Perhaps surprisingly, Ryan Mason is only listed by Spurs as "doubtful" with his hamstring pull, sustained on Thursday. Similarly, Erik Lamela is also doubtful with his calf injury.

Spurs have suffered the longest period without an FA Cup Final win, since the 40 year gap between 1921 and 1961. It's time for that to be rectified. We've now proved by beating Chelsea 5-3 in an exhilarating match that we need fear no other team. This is the year we have to win a Cup, preferably, the top domestic trophy, and I do think we will start along that road tomorrow night.

As always, it won't be easy at Turf Moor, but I do think we shall return the victors, perhaps by two goals. I'll go for a 3-1 win.

The match referee is Roger East, who I do not believe has previously been in charge of any Spurs game, but he has had charge of three Premier League games over Christmas.

· 10 years ago (on 4th January, 2005) this happened. No photo-shopping was involved in the picture that appears with the story

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